March 8th, 2012

Helen Nissenbaum evaluates concerns about online privacy

New York University Professor Helen Nissenbaum outlined her approach to evaluating concerns about pervasive loss of online privacy at the March 8 Liberation Technology Seminar. Video available
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March 1st, 2012

Joshua Blumenstock explores economic shock impacts using “big data”

During the Liberation Technology Seminar on March 1, Joshua Blumenstock, a Ph.D. candidate at U.C. Berkeley’s School of Information, demonstrated the use of “big data” to explore the economic impact of mobile phone technologies in sub-Saharan Africa. Video available
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February 16th, 2012

Stanford Knight journalism fellows share technology ideas

During the Feb. 16 Liberation Technology Seminar, five teams from Stanford University’s John S. Knight Journalism Fellowship program shared their ideas on using technology to push the boundaries of journalism. Read more »

February 9th, 2012

Kathleen Reen discusses Internet security and safe computing

Kathleen Reen, vice president for Asia and New Media programs at Internews, delivered the Feb. 9 Liberation Technology Seminar on the topic of "Strategies and Support for a Global Open Internet." Read more »

February 4th, 2012

Are the days of web surfing over?

In an opinion piece for The New York Times on Feb. 4, Evgeny Morozov declares the days of cyberspace exploration over, snuffed out by the world of social media and search engine optimization. Read more »

January 19th, 2012

David Wolman discusses young activists in Egypt

On Jan. 19, David Wolman contributing editor to Wired magazine, presented his new book The Instigators about Egypt’s youth activists at the Liberation Technology Seminar Series. Video available
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January 12th, 2012

Rebecca MacKinnon on how the Internet should be structured and governed

Rebecca MacKinnon, the Bernard L. Schwartz Senior Fellow at the New America Foundation, delivered the inaugural lecture for the Liberation Technology Seminar Series on Jan. 12 on the topic of Internet freedom and governance. Video available
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January 1st, 2012

LibTech seminar series, winter quarter

The Liberation Technology Seminar Series for the winter quarter features an impressive array of speakers. Read more »

December 8th, 2011

Klingner discusses Martus, a free and open source software program

Jeff Klingner, computer science consultant at Benetech, delivered Dec. 8 Liberation Technology Seminar on the topic of collecting, protecting, and analyzing human rights data. Video available
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December 1st, 2011

Two approaches to debates on technology and democracy: Evgeny Morozov

On Dec. 1, Evgeny Morozov visiting scholar at CDDRL's Program on Liberation Technology delivered a seminar on the current state of the Internet and the democracy debate after the Arab Spring. Video available
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November 17th, 2011

d.school uses mobile technology for social issues in Kenya

The November 17 Liberation Technology Seminar was co-hosted by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), a nonpartisan economic policy research organization that unites remarkable economic talent from all parts of Stanford University. This seminar featured four student-led design projects that were created in the Designing Liberation Technologies course taught each spring at Stanford's Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school) by professors' Josh Cohen and Terry Winograd. Read more »

November 10th, 2011

O’Brien aims at protecting online journalists

Danny O'Brien led the Nov. 10 Liberation Technology seminar on the topic, “Reports from the Bleeding Edge: What Journalism in Syria, China and Iran tell us about Silicon Valley's Future”. O'Brien is the Internet Advocacy Coordinator at Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), which was founded in New York in 1981 with the aim of defending individual journalists worldwide. Video available
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November 3rd, 2011

Kim states technology enables the right to education

Paul Kim, the assistant dean for technology & CTO at Stanford University's School of Education, led the Nov. 3 Liberation Technology Seminar Series on “Global Inequalities, Achievement Gaps, and Mobile Innovations.” Kim has been reconceptualizing the whole education system, with a particular focus on the education of children in deprived areas. Video available
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October 31st, 2011

LibTech Program is building an interactive database of the world's constitutions

The Program on Liberation Technology at Stanford's Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law is building a ‘Constitution Explorer’ website that will host a structured database of constitutions to enable people to compare and contrast other countries' constitutions as they undergo their own national projects for constitutional change. Read more »

October 27th, 2011

Gregory and Nunez discuss the use of video cameras in human rights work

Sam Gregory, program director at WITNESS
 and Bryan Nunez, technology manager at Witness, delivered the Oct. 27 Liberation Technology seminar entitled, “Cameras Everywhere: Meeting the Challenges at the intersection of Human Rights, Video and Technology.” Video available
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October 20th, 2011

Srinivasan speaks to using social media to create connections

Ramesh Srinivasan, assistant professor at UCLA in design and media/information studies, delivered the Oct. 20 Liberation Technology seminar. Video available
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October 13th, 2011

Stern discusses strengthening grassroots in Africa providing the “last mile”

In the October 13 seminar entitled, "The Last Mile: Grassroots Development and Technology in Africa” Joshua Stern, executive director of Envaya, and Jesse Young, CTO of Envaya, shared their insights into how software could be used to strengthen grassroots development in Africa. Video available
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October 6th, 2011

McLaughlin speaks on the expansion of the internet and its risks

Andrew McLaughlin, a lecturer at the Stanford Law School and the executive director of the Creative Commons delivered the inaugural lecture for the fall season of the Liberation Technology Seminar Series at the Center on Democracy, Develpoment and Rule of Law. Video available
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September 28th, 2011

Liberation Technology Seminar Series launches for the fall quarter

The Liberation Technology Seminar Series is set for an exciting fall quarter. Held on Thursdays from 4.30 to 6 pm at Wallenberg Theater, this 1-unit seminar course is co-taught by CDDRL director Larry Diamond and Professor of Computer Science Terry Winograd. Read more »

June 13th, 2011

Bridging Silicon Valley and Tahrir Square

The Program on Liberation Technology at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) hosted two events in May, which brought together the technology and activist communities in support of a common cause-Egypt. Read more »

March 31st, 2011

Program on Liberation Technology spring update

Check out updates from the Program on Liberation Technology at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law to see what is new and forthcoming for the spring quarter. Read more »

March 15th, 2011

New course: The internet, public action, and development

A new course entitled, The Internet, Public Action and Development, will be co-taught in the spring by CDDRL Director, Larry Diamond and Vivek Srinivasan, Program Manager for the CDDRL Liberation Technology program. This is an excellent opportunity for students interested in examining the relationship between Internet, democracy, and social change from a theoretical and practical standpoint. This course will be cross-listed with the Communications and Political Science departments. Read more »

March 9th, 2011

How Web 2.0 drives political change in the Arab world and beyond

On February 24, the Program on Liberation Technology at the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) hosted a conference entitled Blogs and Bullets: Social Media and the Struggle for Social Change, in partnership with the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and George Washington University's Institute for Public Diplomacy and Global Communication (GW). This event was a high-impact gathering of scholars, academics, and representatives from the Silicon Valley tech community, to examine a very timely subject--how social media is being used to advance political change in developing democracies. Read more »

March 3rd, 2011

Fung on why technology hasn't revolutionized politics

Archon Fung, Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Citizenship at the Harvard Kennedy School, delivered the March 3 Liberation Technology seminar titled, Why Technology Hasn't Revolutionized Politics, But How it Can Give a Little Help to Our Friends. Video available presentation available
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February 10th, 2011

Hoffmann and Jeon on using ICT for clean water in Kibera

The February 10 Liberation Technology seminar titled, Can ICT Improve Clean Water Delivery Systems in Slums? Lessons from Kibera was led by two Stanford students, Katherine Hoffman, M.A. Candidate in International Policy Studies and Global Health together with Sunny Jeon, PhD candidate in Political Science. Hoffman and Jeon presented on the topic of the M-Maji system, a start-up non-profit project that uses mobile phones to empower communities with better information about water availability, price, and quality. M-Maji emerged from the Designing Liberation Technologies course taught at the Stanford d.school, which is dedicated to using mobile phone technology for health improvement in Kibera. Read more »